- (1.) On this interlocutory petition in a suit for infringement of copyright, an ad interim order was passed on January 21, 2015 requiring the defendant to furnish accounts to Advocate -on -Record for the plaintiffs.
(2.) The relevant order, however, did not deal with the merits of the case. In short, it is the plaintiffs' case that the plaintiffs held a patent in respect of a product which has lapsed because of the failure to pay the renewal fees at the end of the first ten years. The defendant has applied for a patent in the same or a similar product. The plaintiffs claim that in seeking to manufacture the defendant's product, the defendant has infringed the plaintiffs' copyright in the drawings pertaining thereto.
(3.) However, the owner of the copyright is not a party to the proceedings. At paragraph 4 of the petition, the plaintiffs have averred that "the industrial drawing is an original artistic work of the said Berthold Stilkerieg on which he has a copyright." Berthold Stilkerieg is not a party to the present action and the plaintiffs have not been able to show any document under which the copyright in the industrial drawings has been assigned by the owner thereof to the plaintiffs or either of them.;